With the closing of the Revue Cinema by the McQuillan side of the Festival Cinema chain and the attainment of heritage status for the theatre building itself, the Roncesvalles community have now moved on to the next of step: reopening the theatre as a high-quality neighbourhood repertory cinema.

To this end, the Save the Revue Committee is in the process of establishing a non-profit corporation that will lease the theatre from the current owners and operate it as a rep cinema. As a recent Bloor West Villager story described it:

The Save the Revue Committee would like to run the theatre like the ROM or the AGO, by creating an entity to lease the building, raise revenue through membership dues and ticket sales, create a board of governors represented by volunteers and hire a staff to operate it. The group has been meeting weekly to make their dream happen.

Northronces.com has already provided a link to the on-line survey in the upper right corner of the blog; please visit the Save the Revue web site and lmake the Committe aware of your vision for the new Revue.

Towards the goal of awareness and fundraising, The Save the Revue Committee successfully turned the Revue’s official—and hopefully temporary—closing day into quite a media event where volunteers in Charlie Chaplin costumes sold “Save the Revue” pins and t-shirts to help raise money for the cause. The public turn out to the memorial showings of The Wizard of Oz and Lawrence of Arabia was impressive with the first show selling out, while, unfortunately, a large number of people were unable to get in to see the second.

According to The Villager, the Committee’s latest endeavour has been the marshalling of high profile support from the likes of Toronto based international celebrities:

Barenaked Ladies’ drummer Tyler Stewart, a Roncesvalles area resident, actor Don McKellar, who is currently appearing on Broadway in The Drowsy Chaperone, director Norman Jewison and filmmaker Bruce McDonald…

From the perspective of NorthRonces.com if the community can combine this grassroot and celebrity support with a bit of corporate largesse from, say, the likes of the Toronto Dominion Financial Group, condo developer Harry Stinson, Rogers Video, or the Scotiabank, then we may have “the beginning of a beautiful friendship,” not to mention a successful movie theatre run by—and for—the community.

The latest “Save the Revue” t-shirts can be purschased at The Film Buff at 73 Roncesvalles Ave.